We spent some time apart today, which was good (and needed). He went to the Uffizi and i slept. i then went down to the Ponte Vecchio to take pictures, then to the statue garden, then back to the hostel for the free walking tour. It was really fun and educational, even though we went to a lot of the places i went yesterday, but i learned interesting things about them. at the end of the tour i got a huge surprise: Ally and Claire were in Florence too! They found Joe and then they found me at the end of the tour! we walked down the Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace and Gardens, which were huge (but we didn't go in :P) and caught up on our trips and lives. we found the "best gelato in the city" and a small cafe for lunch, then split up for a while. Me and Joe went to the Chisa di Santa Croce, which was a good find! They had the tombs of Rossini, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Dante, Marconi, Fermi and Galileo! It was a smorgasbord of dead famous guys!! There were also some other awesome things as well, like some of the clothes of St. Francis of Assisi and some cool art. After that, I had my bad ass moment of Italy: walking to the top of the Duomo!! 463 steps! it was pretty amazing. And i got some good pictures too! we went back to the hostel after that for some relaxing time and dinner (did i mention we get HUGE free plates of pasta for dinner? cause we do :D) Then we met up with Claire and Ally again and went to the Piazza di Michelangelo, which had BEAUTIFUL views of the city! We walked around there for a while and a creepy church that's gates were open at night. we went to their hostel after that and had some wine and talked for a few hours. I think that may be what i miss most alcohol-wise when i come back to the US: being able to just sit down with some wine or a drink and just talking with people wherever. Not in dorm rooms, or at a party, just chilling some place and having a good relaxed time. Anyway, Joe was tired (so was I, but I'll blame him :P) so we went back to our hostel. We're eating breakfast at 9, then leaving for Lucca in the morning! It's gonna be really awesome. Wrapping up week 3 does seem kind of weird, though. I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!
From Day 18:
We put our Oxbridge minds to the test today! We arrived in Lucca at around 2 and forgot to check for our reservations for our next trips, so we went back to the station and apparently the Lucca station is not big enough to do this at, the closest one was at Pisa. We were planning on going to Pisa tomorrow, but we decided it would be better to do go get our tickets and just spend the rest of the day there and do Lucca tomorrow. Smart, huh? Well i am super glad we did! When we got to the Pisa station, we went to make reservations and besides the people there being super unhelpful and running me in circles, it turns out the only trains that would get me to Barcelona leave tomorrow! so i would have been screwed if we had gone to Pisa then! Got my reservations (which were super expensive, btw!) and we went to the Leaning Tower. Joe went up in the tower but i felt as though i had spent enough money for one day (€74 on the reservation)! We spent time there till sunset, then got a train back to Lucca. We had gotten groceries earlier, so we went back and made dinner and got ready for bed. It has been a long day! We're getting up early tomorrow so i can see some of Lucca before I have to leave. I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!
From Day 19:
Me and Joe went walking on the walls of Lucca and had deep, philosophical conversations which included whether QEII will have Charles assassinated before she dies, man boobs, a theory on old people and other pressing topics. we found the medieval tower i read about that has an oak tree growing out the top of it. the tree wasn't that great, but the views were good! I definitely want to come back one day to see the rest of the city. We went back to the hostel cause it started raining and are some food and talked until i had to leave. we said goodbye and i headed for the station for the 12:12 train to Pisa so i could get my train to Barcelona. We left at 1:10. ARGH! I don't even want to go into it. Long story short, it turned out alright. i was like 3 minutes early for the train thank God. The rest of the day was uneventful. Train to Milan, sat in the station for 1 1/2 hours, night train to Barcelona, one of the guys in our compartment got kicked off the train, then i settled in my train bed. weird. it's kind of like laying down in a car, but more bumpy. I got up at 7:30, so even though it's early in the night, I'm going to go to bed. But first, some...
BITZ O WIZDUM!!!!
Discoveries in Italy
1. Venice isn't that amazing if you don't like church after church (after church) and canals.
2. Gondola rides are expensive! €80 whether it's 1 person or 20, so make sure you have a large group (more than 3 people) if you want to go on one!
3. EAT AS MUCH GELATO AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!! Gelato shops are everywhere and it's so much better in Italy than anywhere else! My record is 17 flavours and 28 scoops total!!
4. Night trains are EXPENSIVE!! Try to get a day train if you can!
5. Meeting up with people is awesome! try to plan some short run-ins with friends if you can!
6. See the original David. It is worth it.
7. Book tickets for popular places ahead of time. you'll save hours upon hours of waiting in lines.
8. Don't trust the communists! They tell you lies! (i know that happened in Switzerland, bit i forgot to write it there and i felt it needed to be said)
9. Switzerland is full of hot people. Italy is full of people who think they're hot.
10. Italian pasta FTW!!! Have some!
I'm super tired, so I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!
Spain coming soon!
Jojo
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